Long-term carbon accumulation in tropical peat swamp forests in Indonesia

Almost half of the tropical peatland area is located in Indonesia, which historically was mostly covered by tropical peat swamp forests. Indonesian peat swamp forest cover has decreased at a rate of 2% per year, implying large carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Here we report on peat core carbon content data collected in summer 2012 in pristine peat swamp forest in Tanjung Puting National Park, West Kalimantan, in an oil palm plantation near Tanjung Puting, and in pristine peat swamp forest in Berbak National Park, Jambi, Sumatra. We also present long-term peat carbon accumulation simulation results using the Holocene Peat Model (HPM), which we have modified to be applicable for tropical peat forest settings. We compare the HPM results with the field data collected in West Kalimantan and Jambi, Indonesia